This is an electricity pricing plan for EV charging. The idea is to charge when power is cheaper, and the hosts say there’s a limited-time offer that gives you free charging credit if you sign up and order through the sponsor.
Diesel is a type of fuel used by some cars. They’re talking about how expensive it is right now, which makes people think more about alternatives like EV charging.
The Renault Twingo is a small car made by Renault, designed mainly for city driving. It’s easy to park and get around in tight spaces. Here, the hosts mention it because someone recently reviewed one.
These are services that look at lots of past records about cars. By combining many inspections, they can spot which models usually have certain problems, like rust.
In the UK, an MOT is a yearly safety and emissions check for cars. If a company studies lots of MOT results, it can show which cars tend to fail for common problems, like rust.
Rust is when metal starts corroding and breaking down due to moisture and salt. It can make a car less safe and can lead to it failing inspections. Here, they’re using MOT data to show which cars rust more often.
The Dacia Duster is a compact SUV. In this segment, it’s mentioned as being near the top of a list for rust-related problems found in MOT test data. Rust can start small but can get costly if it spreads.
They’re talking about a 2011 Suzuki SX4 diesel and saying rust/corrosion shows up a lot when the car is inspected for roadworthiness. If you’re buying one, you’d want to check for rust carefully before committing.
In the UK, an MOT is a yearly check to make sure a car is safe and legal to drive. If a website says a model fails MOTs often for rust, that’s a warning sign for buyers.
They’re using a 2019 Ford Fiesta as a comparison point, saying it has a very low chance of rust-related problems showing up in its MOT. It’s basically a “this one seems better on rust” example.
In the UK, cars have an MOT test to check they’re safe to drive. If rust/corrosion shows up in MOT results, it gets recorded, and people can count how often it happens for certain car models.
They’re talking about a 2017 BMW 320 diesel and saying it has a very low rate of corrosion-related problems showing up in the data they looked at. It’s basically a way to compare how rust issues differ between models/years.
They’re using a percentage number to describe how often corrosion problems show up in inspection records. It’s a useful comparison tool, but it doesn’t guarantee what any single car will be like.
They mention a BMW 116 from around 2016 and say its corrosion-related defect rate is higher than the newer BMW 320. The takeaway is that age and exposure can make rust problems show up more often.
“Corrosion defect rates” means how frequently cars show rust-related problems in inspection results. If a model has a high rate, it’s more likely to develop rust as it gets older.
A “kit car” is a car you buy in parts and then build yourself (or have someone build it for you). When a podcast talks about the “return” of a kit-car brand, it usually means the company or its cars are becoming relevant again—either new kits, new production, or renewed interest.
A “track prepped” car is set up for driving on a race track. It usually has upgrades and safety gear so it can handle faster driving and harder braking without falling apart.
“McLaren 570” likely means the McLaren 570S, a modern supercar. The host is basically saying the Dutton looked like it belonged in the same track crowd as cars like that.
Term
screw stickers
This sounds like stickers that are attached more permanently than normal decals. It’s part of the “lived-in” track-car look the speaker is describing.
“Repaired fiberglass” means some of the car’s fiberglass body parts were damaged and then fixed. Track cars often get scuffs or cracks, and fiberglass is a common material for repair.
They’re basically saying the car has been through a minor on-track scrape or bump. The repairs make it look like a real track car that gets used, not a show-only car.
They’re excited to find out what engine the car has. On track cars, the engine choice and tune can be a major part of why it feels fast and how it behaves on track.
Individual Vehicle Approval is an inspection process for cars that aren’t built in the usual factory way. An authority checks that the finished car meets safety and legal requirements before it can be registered.
Concept
centre you go to
They’re saying that where you take the car for approval can affect how the process goes. Different offices can have different procedures or expectations.
In the UK, some cars—especially kit cars—have to be individually checked and approved before they can be driven on the road. The “IVA scene” is basically the group of people who help others understand that approval process.
Concept
grand master of kit cars
They’re praising Tim Dutton as a major, long-time figure in the kit-car hobby. It’s basically saying he’s one of the most influential people in that community.
An amphibious car is made to go on roads and also move in water. It needs special sealing and a way to push itself through water—otherwise it would just take on water and stall.
Car
Dutton Aquada
The Dutton Aquada is a rare kind of car that can drive on roads and also move through water. It’s not a normal “car that can ford a puddle”—it’s built with systems to actually propel itself on water.
The Volkswagen Phaeton is a big, luxury car from Volkswagen. It was meant to feel like a top-tier premium sedan, even though it wasn’t sold in very large quantities.
The Mazda MX-5 is the Miata, a lightweight roadster. “Mark III” just means one particular generation of that car, and saying something is based on it usually means it uses the MX-5’s underlying parts.
A “donor car” is basically the car you take parts from. People like using popular donor cars because their parts are easier to get and swaps are more straightforward.
They’re referencing a magazine for kit cars, which are cars you build from a kit. People in this hobby often reuse parts from other cars to make the project cheaper and easier.
Company
TKC
TKC is mentioned as the name of a kit-car magazine. It’s likely a place where kit-car builders share advice and information.
Concept
track kit customer
This sounds like a person who buys a kit (or kit parts) mainly to drive on a race track. Track-focused builds usually aim for better grip and braking, not just everyday comfort. It’s a clue about the customer’s intended use.
A kit car is a car you buy as parts, then build yourself (or pay someone to build it). The “kit car industry” is the community of companies and people who make and sell those kits. It’s often how enthusiasts get into unusual or track-focused cars.
Alpina is a company that takes BMWs and makes them faster and more special. It’s not just a cosmetic package—Alpina usually changes how the car drives. “Return of Alpina” means they’re coming back in some way, like to a market or lineup.
Company
Bovenseepens
The host mentions a family or company that makes very limited-run, special cars. The exact name is a bit unclear here, but the idea is that they’re doing custom, small-batch work.
Coach-building means making cars in a more custom, handcrafted way—usually in small numbers. Instead of a factory building everything the same, specialists tailor the body and details.
Max Mussoni is a car designer. The hosts are saying BMW hired him, and they mention he previously worked at Polestar, so he likely influences the look and feel of what BMW is planning.
Polestar is a brand that makes electric cars. The hosts are using it as a clue about the designer’s background and the kind of modern, clean design style he’s associated with.
Term
Scandinavidians
They’re basically describing a Scandinavian design look—simple, clean, and not overly flashy. The point is that the cars/designs they’re talking about have a modern, tidy style.
Tesla is a car company that started fresh and still managed to sell a lot of cars. The point they’re making is that new brands can succeed, but it usually takes a long time to get going.
This phrase means starting a car brand almost from zero—no big history or established customer base. Even if the company succeeds later, it often takes years to build the cars, production, and demand.
BYD is a newer car brand that has grown fast and sells a lot of cars. They’re mentioning it to show that even brand-new companies can become big players.
Volvo is a major Swedish automaker with a strong brand identity around safety and, more recently, electrification. Here, Volvo is used as the example of a legacy brand whose internal strategy might influence whether a new sub-brand (like Polestar) is launched.
This is the question of whether a car company should make a brand that stands on its own, or just treat it like part of the existing brand. A separate brand can be harder for people to understand at first, but it can also make the product feel more distinct.
“Petrol cars” means vehicles powered by gasoline (internal combustion) rather than electric or hybrid power. The hosts’ wording suggests the “Alpenas” have a reputation for being energetic or performance-oriented in a traditional combustion sense.
“EV era” just means the time when more cars are electric instead of gas. Automakers are changing how they build and sell cars to match that shift.
Brand
Alpenas
They’re talking about “Alpenas” like it’s a performance brand or sub-brand. The point is that it’s meant to feel refined and quiet, not just loud and sporty.
“M Sport” is BMW’s sporty trim package. It usually makes the car look and feel more performance-oriented, even if it’s not the full high-performance “M” cars.
“Clear air” here sounds like they mean “make things clearer” or “set a clean starting point.” It’s not a specific car part—more of a discussion about how to frame the idea.
M-Sport is BMW’s performance branding that usually means a sportier version of a BMW—more aggressive look and driving feel. The hosts are basically asking why there are already M-Sport BMWs if another performance label is coming.
They’re talking about giving suppliers or partners information early—before the car starts being built in large numbers. When people plan with the right details ahead of time, it’s easier to avoid mistakes and last-minute changes. That usually makes the production launch smoother.
A BMW 320d is a BMW 3 Series car that uses a diesel engine. The “320d production line” means the factory line where that car is built. They’re saying that line didn’t need many updates for a while.
The McLaren F1 is a famous, very high-performance supercar. The point here is that it wasn’t built in isolation—its engine came from a major partner, showing how big companies team up to make top cars.
Concept
image thing
They’re basically saying the companies might be doing it to look good. Sometimes partnerships are about reputation—so people associate the brand with performance or prestige.
The BMW 7 Series is BMW’s top-of-the-line luxury car. Here they’re saying BMW plans to offer it with both traditional gas power and electric power, depending on the version.
The BMW X7 is BMW’s large luxury SUV, positioned above the X5 and aimed at buyers who want space plus high-end features. The hosts group it with the 7 Series as part of BMW’s upcoming design/technology overhaul and electrification direction.
EVs are cars that use electricity from a battery instead of relying on a gas engine. They’re asking whether the new “Alpenas” model family will also come in an electric version.
This phrase means BMW is planning cars that can use gas engines and also electric options. The point is that the same model line may come in different powertrain versions.
Joachim Post is BMW’s top person for research and development. When he’s mentioned, it usually means the talk is about BMW’s future plans for technology and powertrains.
Concept
modifying existing cars
They’re talking about two ways people can work on cars. One is designing a car from scratch, and the other is taking an existing car and changing it. The discussion is about whether those are equally “big” jobs.
Concept
create whole cars
They mean building a car as a complete project, not just changing parts of an existing one. That usually involves a lot more engineering work, planning, and testing.
A body kit is extra exterior parts added to a car to change how it looks. It can also affect how the car sits and how the wheels fit under the fenders.
Wheel types just means different kinds of wheels—like different designs and sizes. Changing wheels can change how the car drives and whether everything fits correctly.
A facelift is when a car gets a refresh partway through its life. Think of it like a “new look” and some updated features, but it’s usually not a totally new car.
The Alpina B3 is a BMW-based car that’s been upgraded for stronger performance. It’s designed to be a daily driver, not just a weekend sports car. The podcast mentions it because it’s the kind of car someone would choose to use every day.
Concept
head-to-head section
A “head-to-head” is a direct comparison between two cars. It’s meant to make it easier to see which one makes more sense for different needs.
“Hold their value” means a car keeps a high resale price over time instead of depreciating quickly. The hosts use this idea to argue that these newer/desired Audi A2 variants remain expensive even after a few years.
Alloy wheels are lighter wheels than the usual steel ones. Lighter wheels can feel nicer to drive, but if they’re paired with big wheel sizes, the ride can get bumpier on bad roads.
Concept
fiscal potholes
They’re using “potholes” to mean money surprises. With cars, that could be unexpected costs like repairs or other expenses that show up later.
Ride quality is how smooth and comfortable the car feels when the road isn’t perfect. You can have great handling but still feel stiff or “flat” over bumps, depending on setup.
Run-flat tires are tires that can keep you driving for a short distance even if they get punctured. Because of their stiffer design, they can make the ride feel firmer than normal tires.
Michelin Pilot Sport is a brand/model of sporty tires. The point here is that switching to these tires made the car feel more comfortable, even though the car still handled well.
Dampers are the shock absorbers that control the motion of the suspension. They help stop the car from bouncing after you hit a bump, making the ride feel smoother.
Tires aren’t just for grip—they also help smooth out the ride. If the tire has a thinner sidewall (lower profile), the car usually feels harsher over bumps.
Concept
maintain the demarcation
They’re talking about keeping a clear separation between two groups or identities. In car terms, that can affect how the brand feels to customers—like whether it’s still run in a more personal, traditional way.
A plug-in hybrid is a car that uses both electricity and gasoline. You can charge it at home, and it can sometimes run on electric power by itself for a while.
The BMW iX is BMW’s all-electric SUV. It’s expensive to develop and build, so the hosts are using it as an example of a big investment that might not pay off if demand isn’t there.
The BMW i5 is BMW’s electric 5 Series. The point here is that if a company puts too much money into EVs and people don’t want them, it can be a costly mistake.
Car makers have to follow different rules depending on where they sell the cars. The hosts are saying that regulation risk can make companies hesitant to invest heavily in certain products.
ECU stands for Electronic Control Unit, the computer that manages engine and emissions-related behavior. The hosts are describing a compliance problem where BMW allegedly used the wrong ECU calibration for the market, leading to regulatory penalties.
The Nürburgring is a famous German motorsport circuit often used as a benchmark for car performance and handling. The speaker briefly brings it up, then corrects themselves, suggesting they were about to reference a racing/benchmark connection but decided it was the wrong one.
AMG is Mercedes-Benz’s performance division, known for building high-performance engines and complete performance packages. The hosts mention “an AMG original AMG car” in the context of mixing up which brand made which classic, which is a common confusion because both Alpina and AMG are performance-focused German brands.
Term
Six points range
That phrase is likely about money—how expensive the car is—rather than how the car works. When people talk about “six figures,” they mean the price is in the hundreds of thousands (or at least $100k+).
They’re talking about a “charger” they can make in the color you want. The exact car model isn’t clear from this snippet, but it’s definitely about customizing the vehicle’s look.
An EV charger is what you use to charge an electric car’s battery. It controls how electricity is delivered so the car can safely charge. Different chargers can charge faster or slower depending on their power.
Rally Prep sounds like a specialist shop that works on cars for rally-style driving or performance upgrades. The hosts are saying the car was built by someone at that kind of business.
“Take delivery” means the moment the buyer receives the car after it’s been prepared or completed. In car builds, delays between “ready” and “take delivery” can happen for logistics, paperwork, or scheduling reasons.
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Hello, welcome to episode 190 of the AutoCard podcast,
My Week in Cars with Pry here.
Stephen Cropley over there has given me a surprised face
that we've reached 190 weeks.
Unbelievable, isn't it?
Well, that's not including the bonus episodes as well.
All right, so that's three and a half years.
Three...
God, what a long time.
What a long time.
Yes, thanks for joining us.
It's sponsored by Anderson, our friends at Anderson
who make premium electric car chargers.
They're very design focused, really good looking things.
You can visit them at Anderson-TV.com.
They have a concierge service.
They're British designed, engineered and made.
And if you sign up to the Intelligent Octopus Go tariff,
you can get six months or 4,000 miles free charging
on orders placed with Anderson after the 1st of March.
So from a little while ago, you can still subscribe to that
and so on and so forth.
Gets more and more enticing that, doesn't it?
Because you look out the window and see diesel
at close to two quid a shot.
Yeah, I saw somebody filling up, a friend of mine
was filling up with...
Was it V-Power Petrol at 2.20 or something the other day?
Really?
I mean, we're recording this as regular listeners to the pod.
We'll know we're recording a couple of weeks in advance.
So things may have changed.
They may be back down to one pound 80
or it may be eight quid.
Or who knows?
So apologies.
This is, I don't know.
This is the 29th of April edition of this pod, I think.
Excuse me.
But Stephen, my diaries are not matching up pretty much
over the next couple of weeks.
No, it's amazing that...
But luckily, I think in May we reach the sunny uplands, don't we?
Yes, I've just had a horrible thought
that actually that first week back is not amazing for me either.
So...
Yeah, we'll have to sort something out.
Oh, well...
I think it's fine.
Let me tell you about a letter I've got from John Robinson
which has literally arrived, well, 31 minutes ago.
Hello, you absolute pair of...
Wait, that's another podcast.
He says, if you listen to the Smith & Sniff podcast,
you're not a regular listener.
Sometimes, yeah.
Anyway, the pair of flutes.
I think he was going to call us, but it's a fine pod.
And Richard was very kind the other day
when he was talking about my review of the Renault Twingo.
He said, he trusts MacPrior's judgment implicitly.
Look at that.
He's very kind of him.
And he mentioned it in the same...
He mentioned me in the same paragraph as Paul Horrell effectively
of Topka, who I trust implicitly too.
So to be mentioned in the same breath as Horrell,
I will take every day of the week.
Fantastic.
Every day of the week.
Anyway, sorry, John.
I stumbled across something moderately interesting.
Says John, one of those car history checking companies
has analyzed three million MOT test results
to find out things such as,
which car has the most failures for rust?
Hmm.
I'm afraid the much lauded Dacia Duster
is near the top of the oxide list
and perhaps worth watching out for.
I thought that was quite interesting.
I've no affiliation with the company, nor with Dacia,
nor with any other podcast.
Cheers, Matt.
Thanks, Matt.
Bye.
Anyway, I've clicked on the link.
And the 2011 Suzuki SX4 diesel
has corrosion related defects in over 71% of MOT tests.
Phew.
I know.
The 2019 Ford Fiesta has a 0.18 defect rate for rust.
Really?
What a different, what an astonishing difference.
Mind you, that's the 80 years ago.
Yeah, there was quite a lot new.
Yeah.
What's a Duster?
Which Duster does it have?
So the 2013 diesel Duster has a 67.3% diesel rate,
defect rate, sorry, in its MOTs.
With 55,000, this is a place called,
I've literally just clicked on this link.
So I don't know too much about this website.
It's called Plate Insight.
It's called, sorry?
Plate Insight.
Oh, OK.
Yeah.
And, well, but effectively, yeah, 67 cents.
Sounds interesting.
It does, it really does, actually.
Yeah, it really, really does.
55,000 occurrences of MOT mentions of corrosion in Dusters.
OK.
The, interestingly, the earliest mention,
I think the earliest mention of it, 64,000 miles.
I need to, I need to analyze it better.
I've just clicked on the link.
Excuse me.
Yeah.
Not read it through.
But amazing stuff, like the BMW 320 2017 diesel 0.2% defect rate.
Wow.
And, I mean, the newer models obviously seem to have fewer mentions,
but, yeah, 2016, so 10 years old BMW 116 has a 0.33 defect rate
because of corrosion.
That's very good.
So there's a big old difference, isn't there,
between the best and the worst?
Yes, sure is.
That's remarkable.
I'd be interested.
That's valuable information.
It's valuable information.
Yeah, so, yeah, thanks for that, John, very much indeed.
It sounds like a feature in a mag to me.
It does a bit, doesn't it?
Yeah, I need to...
It'd be interesting to know how well their stuff's gathered,
the info's gathered, but if it's...
Yeah, I need to have a proper dig through it
because it seems to be that they've got a lot of records in there
that they're going through.
Yeah, yeah.
We analyzed 3,142,385 MOT tests to rank corrosion defect rates.
Wow.
So I need to...
I mean, I know nothing about the site, but...
Nice letter to get, though.
Yeah, thanks for that, John.
And also thanks for referencing the other podcasts.
Yeah.
Other why I have to accept other MOT podcasts are available.
Yeah.
They don't talk about cars very much.
No.
So, you know, I think we exist happily alongside each other.
Yeah.
Oh, God.
Well, I think all the people we know do them.
You know, Andrew and Dan, Goodblex, you know,
Smith and Sniff, Goodblex, they just are.
And so...
And Christopher and his friends as well, who I like very much.
God, wouldn't it?
Yeah.
Monkey boy.
Yeah.
Wouldn't be...
Yeah.
So they mentioned our pod the other week and Chris said,
Prior got...
Prior used to get quite upset about some copy I delivered late.
And I'd hoped he'd forgotten about that.
Because he did once write something in the office
and he left it for the rotesters to fill.
Oh.
And I remember sending him an email and it was...
Steamy.
Unnecessarily shirty of me.
And I felt bad about it ever since.
And every time I've seen him since, I think,
Oh, I hope he doesn't remember that because I wasn't my finest hour.
And then he mentioned it on the pod the other week.
And I thought, 20 years later, he does remember it.
He tends not to forget things.
Sorry about that, Christopher, as well.
And so, yes, an apology to each other.
Because I really like him and his company.
Well, he's doing well, isn't he?
Yeah.
Have you seen this thing that where he and some other bloke
seem to have saved a steam train or something?
It's on television.
Yeah, I haven't seen clips, but I haven't seen it.
Sounds like an earmark to me, though, there.
And I think, isn't it Francis Bourgeois, the new Grand Tour fellow?
Oh, really?
I think so, yeah.
I think.
Unless I'm mistaking it with another program.
Yeah, I think that's who it is.
I'm going to watch it anyway.
Definitely.
That's my kind of stuff.
And also, I think he is...
Well, do you remember when he used to make woods for us, monkey?
He was just good, wasn't he?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You just knew he was good.
I remember you saying,
At some point, he's going to go.
At some point, somebody will have him.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, he's a really good column writer.
I know, because we talked to him on this pod,
and he was only staffed for four years, which I find remarkable,
because it seemed so much longer at the...
He came when...
I was supposed to use free luts for a while, but...
Didn't he have a...
There was a period when he departed and then came back, I think.
He was retained free luts, it wasn't it?
Yeah.
We tried to get him to do...
Do you remember...
I'm not sure whether this came to notice,
but we tried to get him to, as a Christmas guest,
a few months ago, and he was willing,
but unfortunately, the logistics didn't work.
He was there and we were here,
but I think he wouldn't want to put words into his mouth,
but he seemed to say that he'd come on whenever we want,
so maybe we could do it again.
Maybe we could, yeah, I know, very happily.
Always happily spend time with him,
always happily spend time with Chris.
What should we talk about this week, mate?
I've got a big long list because our columns
for three weeks time have not yet been written,
so I wrote a very long list this morning,
as I said on this pod last week,
recorded an hour ago,
a big list of things to talk about,
some of which probably from your column this week,
we haven't even mentioned yet,
or my column in the past couple of weeks.
I'll tell you what I want to know about,
and I don't think we've...
I don't think we've talked about it,
correct me if I'm wrong.
The return of Dutton Kit cars.
No, I don't think at all.
Did you...
Do you remember I saw that car?
There was one that, a very well-used one
that was a heritage that I photographed,
and I showed you the pic and we published it.
You loved it, didn't you?
Mate, that's totally up my street,
that sort of ratty old.
But it looked...
But healthy.
Healthy.
And it looked...
You know, you can tell sometimes, can't you?
If I look at a...
Maybe not anymore.
You should better look at a mountain bike
and just sort of look at it and go,
hang on, that looks proper,
because you could get like a budget mountain bike
with full suspension,
or you could get a really nice one.
Sometimes you could just tell you,
just look at it and go,
hang on a minute, that looks...
And I can do it with cars.
If you've got a car that looks track prepped
or modded or whatever,
sometimes you just look at a glance
and go, hang on a minute,
that looks like a...
That's not done for show.
That looks like a proper bit of kit.
And this Dutton had a cage,
the right sort of cage and set up,
that looked like it was a proper track.
And it was parked next to somebody's GT3,
isn't it?
Oh, it was parked next to...
Was it next to a McLaren 570 or something like that?
And it was covered in screw stickers,
and you could see the...
There were bits of repaired fiberglass
where it obviously had an argument with somebody
in a corner.
But not a...
You know, just a sort of friendly argument,
not a pig.
But it was very healthy, wasn't it?
It was busting to know what the engine was,
and I couldn't figure it out.
And did you write this story,
the new story that Dutton is back?
Have you seen it?
No, I don't know anything about it.
Oh, I'm asking you,
because I thought you knew it.
Dutton is back.
Well, good old...
I mean, the...
It's nothing good that.
I don't know the burden of it,
but I don't even know
what the situation is like
for kit cars anymore.
I presume you can still make them,
as long as you take them to the...
Yeah, you can still do
individual vehicle approval.
And depending on which...
From memory, depending on which
centre you go to...
Because I think when you build an aircraft,
they're desperate for you to be able to fly, aren't they?
They really help you all the way through the process.
And I think it depends on who you meet
in the IVA scene as to how...
how encouraging they want to be.
Like, maybe they get a vibe
depending on who's going,
but yes, you can get individual vehicle approval.
So Tim Dutton has described
the grand master of kit cars
and has unveiled his first new kit car
in 37 years, the FATON 5.
As the name suggests,
there were four previous incarnations
until Tim became tired of the kit car scene
at the end of the 80s
after selling more than 8,000 of them,
an average of 360 a year
from 1967 to 1989.
Wow. That's loads.
That is a hero of kit cars, isn't it?
That's great, isn't it?
Yeah.
Why go to the trouble of developing
a new car all these years later?
Why not?
He said, I can't retire.
What on earth would I do?
He says, his wit as well as his energy levels
are just as they were
when he started out building kit cars
in a shed behind his mum's pub
in Sussex 59 years ago.
He took a short sabbatical
after he packed up first time around
then decided he would like to buy
an amphibious car.
Oh, the Dutton Aquada.
Yeah.
Decided...
Anyway, then has that...
then that finished?
And then he spent 28 years
building amphibians
until selling the project
to his agent in Poland in 2023.
Then he bought and restored
some other machines
and then they decided
that he should bring back
the Phaeton, the Phaeton 5.
Yeah, the car you...
we were just discussing a minute ago
was a Phaeton.
Yes.
I couldn't tell you which...
Yeah, it was.
Which of the four it was.
But it's...
good luck to him.
I fancy going and
knocking on his door, actually.
Yeah.
Be allowed to...
he might even be a good pod guest, might he?
Oh, yeah.
He must have a lot of stories to tell.
Yeah, it must do.
Yeah.
We need to look him up, I think.
Yeah, let's do that.
I think...
maybe it was John Evans
who wrote this.
Anyway, it's based on a Mark III
Mazda Mx5
which is quite a popular donor
for kick-ass stuff.
Yeah, yeah.
I think M...
Oh, the doubts are back.
I think M.K. sports cars
who make a...
a cut that looks like a 7.
They use an Mx5 as a donor.
Right.
Which is quite a...
you know, really affordably.
And you can sell the Mazda parts
you don't need.
Yeah, all good.
Wow.
Yeah, we should...
yeah, well, Tim,
a way to call.
Oh, it was written by Steve Hull,
our friend.
Oh, yes, okay.
From...
Okay, yeah.
He runs his own Kit Car magazine.
Yeah, TKC, I think.
That's it, yeah.
A track kit customer.
Hello, Steve, if you're listening.
He writes...
He's another hero
of the Kit Car industry.
He's great.
Yeah, I like Steve a lot.
Yeah.
And sorry, Steve,
I took me to the bottom of the feature
before I saw your name on it.
And actually, I remember now
from a few weeks ago thinking,
oh, Steve Di.
But, you know,
good bloke,
pod listener,
nice fella.
Yeah.
Shall we talk...
Alpina?
Yeah.
What do we know
about the return of Alpina?
Well,
this very day,
they've just put off
an event that was going to tell us
what they're going to do.
But Alpina has been taken,
he was,
for a very long time,
from the 70s at least,
was a modifier of BMWs
that was sort of
independent of BMW,
but favored by them.
You know,
was this the family called Bovenseepen?
The Bovenseepens, yeah,
who are still involved in cars
because they've unveiled their own
version of a four-series, I think.
So they're going to do a bit more
low-volume,
coach-building stuff
as their next project.
And they can also,
I think,
still use the Alpina name
on some classic stuff.
Okay.
And their big wine importers,
exporters,
collectors too.
But I gather that
BMW, meanwhile,
are going to do this seriously.
Yeah.
They've got a...
They're about to make some announcements.
I don't know whether they're going
to show us any properties,
but they've hired this
excellent designer called
Max Mussoni,
who was
previously at Polestar.
Yeah.
And he was responsible for all that,
you know,
all those extremely nice,
shapely, clean-looking,
Scandinavidians
theory
Polestar's.
Do you remember the Polestar pre...
Is it the precept,
that big,
lovely saloon car?
Which
I think he was involved in that.
Okay.
German bloke.
An efficient that will lead to the
Polestar 5.
They called it...
Oh, that's an elegant looking thing,
isn't it?
Lovely, isn't it?
Yeah.
And that's his...
That's his mindset.
He's just a...
I think he's
a real expert to me.
A thorough...
I prove a Polestar anyway,
but
not so much...
I'm not sure about the business model,
but the cars are good.
The cars are good.
I've...
Yes.
Yeah, you've got it.
You were
sort of wondering why they had
Volvo's.
Well, I mean,
they must have had a conversation
at some point, wasn't they?
And they'd have seen...
You can launch a new car company
because Tesla sells a lot of cars
from a standing start.
Yeah.
I mean, it's taken 15 years,
but they sell a lot of cars.
Yeah.
And there are other brands like
BYD that are brand new
and sell a lot of cars.
Yeah.
I think if you own a name like
Volvo,
would they have had this conversation
internally and go on,
do we launch a new brand
or do we just...
Because a lot of what the Polestar
stands for, you know,
clean, efficient, elegant,
everything else,
that sits pretty well with Volvo.
Yes.
That's right.
It needs quite a lot of explanation.
You want the distinction to be
easily explained and it isn't.
No, I agree with you.
But I do like the cars.
Yeah.
As I say, I spent a few hours
on the motorway recently.
Saw lots of Polestar.
When they go by,
it's a nice sight.
I'm fine.
Anyway, Max Mussoni
was very much involved
in those cars,
the Polestar that we know.
I just think
I like his
design style.
Yeah.
So I'm very interested to see
what he will do.
He and...
There's another bloke involved
who I can't actually name,
but another good designer
who in between him,
they're going to,
I guess, produce Alpenas.
And I want to know how
close an Alpena is going to be
to a BMW.
Yeah.
And
also, you know,
Alpenas have
been potent petrol cars,
haven't they?
You know, Super Giles,
Super Giles, all that.
And they...
Here we are in the EV era.
You know, is that what's
what's the case for
an Alpena EV?
Yeah.
It's going to be interesting.
Yeah.
I think last couple of weeks,
within the last couple of weeks,
they announced that they're going to be
launching the first Alpena models
on a 7-series
and an X7,
or an IX7 or something.
I think...
I7.
Yeah.
All right.
Well, no, I thought it was
an SUV.
IX7, okay.
IX7.
I need to...
I've written it in my column,
I need to go back and check,
which is embarrassing, isn't it?
I mean, I wrote it like a week ago.
And I thought at the time,
that's a bit of a...
My first initial,
my first reaction was,
hmm,
because my favourite Alpenas
are 3-series,
sized,
but I suppose they've gone mobile
that we're relaunching Alpena
as a performance sub-brand,
but it's about
elegant performance and quietness.
And actually, if they launched that
on a 3-series,
they do M-Sport versions
of 2-series, 3-series, 5-series.
So maybe, actually,
they need to set the clear air
by relaunching Alpena
on a big car.
Yeah.
And going, look,
because otherwise,
they could end up with
two performance sub-brands
that overlap.
Yeah.
But it does,
actually,
ironically,
it might be
another case of
Volvo and Alpena,
the explanation
of how they differ
gets a bit complicated.
Yes.
And you,
because, as you say,
there's the M-Sport BMWs
already in.
Yeah.
What's that about?
So the first...
And in the olden days,
obviously,
the case for Alpena
was that there was this family
involved,
and they did it differently
because they weren't BMW,
but now Alpena is BMW.
Yeah.
What's that about?
I'm really...
They must have...
Because
some of the...
It's not...
I don't think it ever made
BMW the kind of money that
would make BMW go out of there.
BMW didn't just
support Alpena for the money.
They also did it
because they liked it.
Yeah.
Because they'd have...
But because they
gave them access
to designs
and technical information
well, well in advance
of a car going into production.
Yeah.
And there was a time
when the D3
basically just rolled down
the three-series,
320D production
line
and got very few changes
thereafter.
So that's just been
a really pleasant
working relationship.
Yeah.
And let's just like them.
That is an interesting
side-light on BMW, I think,
because they've got a bit of a
history of supporting people
for
what could even be regarded
as altruistic reasons.
I mean, they provided the engine
for the
McLaren F1.
Mm-hmm.
They did a deal with Morgan
to...
and still have a...
Yeah.
...existing deal with Morgan.
I mean, how much money do you think
they make out of Morgan?
It can't be any kind of...
It's not worth...
It can't be just...
It can't be worth it
just for the money, can it?
No.
They must do it
because they like doing it.
Yeah.
It's a...
I wonder if it's
an image thing
because they do come
across as car people.
They can...
Mm-hmm.
I like the...
I like the idea of that.
Yeah, I like that.
So, yes, it's going to be
the 7 Series and X7.
We'll be a heavily overhauled
later this year in line
with BMW's strategy
of rolling out its new class
of design and technology elements.
The first new era Alpenas
will follow on those models thereafter.
I see.
That's interesting.
Mm-hmm.
And apparently,
asked if Alpenas
would also offer EVs,
given the 7 Series is offered
with both combustion and electric power.
BMW Group R&D chief Joachim Post
said,
we are technology open.
Mm-hmm.
Alpenas will not talk about sport
but speed, comfort and luxury,
he said.
I still wonder though
because Max Mussoni...
I interviewed him
so I could have got to know him
and appreciate the guy a bit.
And...
I can't help wondering whether
somebody of that talent
and, you know,
with the talent to create whole cars,
whether it isn't
slightly
lesser job
to just be modifying existing cars.
Perhaps he'll have input into the original.
Yeah, interesting.
Because making...
it was a sort of,
wasn't it traditionally
a job given to a sort of junior designers,
isn't it,
to design body kits
and wheel types
and, you know,
take this design and...
Yeah.
Shush it up a bit for...
a facelift.
Maybe they're trying to,
maybe by
appointing
high-toned people,
they're trying to make a point
about the importance of the cars
and the distinction of the cars.
Anyway, there's a lot to find out, I think.
Yeah.
And I see from my,
the letter that I just got,
that the explanation of
how it's
going to go in the UK, at least,
is now put back till May.
So...
Okay.
Yeah, our story says there's going to be
something out via Desta,
which is
the concourse in Italy
in the middle of May.
Yeah, I see.
I think.
Okay, so that, yeah,
this British press conference
will be a week ahead of that.
Yeah.
Interesting.
No, rock on.
Another...
I mean, given that we've all got
a pretty
cheery opinion of Alpina,
it's something to look forward to, isn't it?
Yeah.
What do you think of...
Do you see...
I don't watch them,
but do you see used Alpina cars
come up much,
and do they command value?
We did a...
Well, you wrote very kindly.
We recorded a little conversation,
a head-to-head recording about
for the MAG the other day, didn't we?
We each had to pick a dog-friendly car,
even though neither of us has a dog
that could do 0-60 in under 7 seconds
and 40 to the gallon, I think.
Yeah, that was it.
And I started looking up
Alpina D
or B3s, actually, for that.
I think B3.
So you've got a really soft spot for them.
I've got a massive soft spot for them, yeah.
One of those cars, if I had all the money,
if my numbers landed tomorrow,
what would I drive every day?
Probably an Alpina B3.
Wow.
I reckon.
How old?
Just old enough
that it wasn't annoying.
Which I think, actually, even the new ones aren't annoying.
Even the recent ones, I think we're okay.
So three or four years old?
Yeah, probably, yeah, if that.
But the recent ones,
because when Sam Phillips,
who runs our head-to-head section,
said, right, lads,
argue about these two,
find a car and argue about it.
He didn't set a budget,
but the late delivery mileage B3s
are like 110, 100,
and something thousand.
That's right, yeah, yeah.
And they seem to hold their value,
like three or four-year-old one,
was still 80, I think.
Yeah.
Because there's not many.
They're very desirable.
Yeah.
Very...
My one worry,
and it's probably unfounded,
they ride quite nicely because they
work on that quite heavily,
but they do fit very big alloy wheels.
Great-looking alloy wheels.
But...
Vulnerable.
Vulnerable, I worry, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
And, you know, the roads are...
Not amazing.
Yeah, still, if you're talking about
your numbers rolling and all the money...
Oh, well, if the numbers rolling,
maybe it doesn't matter.
You can just wait till their fiscal potholes.
Yes, exactly.
Well, yes, exactly.
Yeah.
The potholes are bad.
I'll go in my airship.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So...
Your...
You like our penis, do you?
Yeah, I've not got a...
I've not got a much experience of the modern ones.
I can remember some...
some epic cars from sort of ten years ago.
Epic, really good.
Yeah.
And you were right about the...
the ride quality,
because they handle very well,
but still very flat ride.
Yeah.
Like all that.
Yeah, and there was that time when BMW
were running run flat tires,
and the ride wasn't brilliant.
And Alpina were fitting everything
with Michelin Pilot Sport,
whatever they were at the time,
and they rode much more nicely.
Yeah.
And they did put that down a lot to tires.
I remember asking the question,
I think of the UK importer,
who then forwarded it across to Alpina,
saying, you know,
you've got thinner rubber than the BMW do.
What's the deal?
How come these cars ride so much better?
And they get their email back going,
well, we do this to the springs,
that to the dampers,
and finally, tires, tires, tires.
And that was, you know, it was emphasized three times.
Yeah, interesting.
And that was the big difference.
Yeah.
But yeah, just so subtle and understated
and fast and perfect.
Yeah, good luck to them.
It'll be very interesting to see
whether they can maintain the demarcation
that has existed between the family
and the company.
Yes.
I mean, I know it wasn't a...
it was pretty close relationship,
but somehow there was...
there was a difference that won't be there now.
Yeah.
My fear, I suppose,
is that it feels like a trim level.
Yeah.
And that would be my worry.
Nasty.
Because it may...
they will have to put the effort in so that it doesn't.
Yeah.
And given how...
well, maybe it is worth it.
I forget.
So the thing for Alpina,
I went on a job
to see them just after they'd announced
that BMW had bought them.
But they were launching a new car at the same time.
They said,
this is the first time that BMW had come to them
with an offer.
And they said,
the problem we have is that
there's electric technology,
there's plug-in hybrid technology,
there's internal combustion technology.
There are a lot of cars in the BMW range.
And if you get it wrong,
you can leave yourself incredibly exposed.
And they don't have loads of money to invest.
So if they invested it all in,
and if they had invested it all in, say,
an iX or an i5,
and nobody really wanted an electric Alpina,
they'd have spent all that money for no return.
Yeah.
And then also,
they were very worried about the legislative stuff of going,
well, there was a time when BMW itself
accidentally fitted the wrong ECU to a number of cars,
sold them elsewhere with effectively
the wrong ECU for the wrong market or whatever.
And the fine was tens of millions of pounds for doing it.
We can't,
unrelated to a diesel gate,
anything like that.
It was just a,
we fitted these cars, there's X thousand of them,
and we seem to have flashed the wrong ECU
with them or whatever.
And they're like,
we can't,
the risks of doing it are just too big for us.
And so let's,
BMW came with an offer,
let them have it.
They kept Alpina Classic,
and now they are starting to use their family name
on something much smaller.
I see.
So the,
there are some great old Alpina classics, aren't there?
Is that,
that,
you know that Nurburgring,
no,
hang on, I'm thinking wrongly.
No, no,
so forget that.
I was about to ask a really dim question.
I thought that,
I was just thinking,
I was about to attribute a,
an AMG,
original AMG car to Alpina.
Oh yes.
Stupid thing.
I think I,
my mind went to,
I think the AMG that you're thinking about.
Yeah, yeah.
They're kind of bad.
The big red ones.
Six points range.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Lovely.
Yeah.
Let's take a very short commercial break
to tell you this podcast is sponsored by
Anderson,
Anderson-EV.com.
Our friends over there who will
do a very nice looking charger.
If you,
if you get in touch with them,
they'll give you a swatch so you can check
your color of house
against the color of charger you want.
I did that.
Pick appropriately.
Yeah.
In fact,
as is possibly well known,
I have an,
an Anderson-EV charger
and had it,
even before we were,
they were involved with the pod.
And,
they did that very thing,
just sent me
color check.
And as a result,
the one I have hangs on the,
on a 150 year old barn
with,
and,
you know,
looks as though it
pretty much fits.
It's good.
Yeah.
Welcome to part two of the AutoCard podcast.
What shall we do?
bum, bum, bum, bum, bum.
Do you want me to
rattle on about my 205 for a bit?
Oh, yeah, I do.
Oh, you know what?
Yeah.
You know what I want you to do?
I want you to find the video clip you've got of it
and play it into your microphone.
I don't know if this is going to work,
but you'll have to bear with us.
If it doesn't,
sorry,
because we're just going to try it anyway.
We'll put it in.
The thing that's interesting is being built
by a bloke called
Neil Yates
at a,
at a business called Rally Prep.
they've had the car out to,
about to take delivery,
but
for various reasons,
I haven't managed to get there.
So this is a Persia 205 GTI.
GTI 1.9,
the former Rally car,
built for the Marl Rally in 2015,
Marl Rally was cancelled,
so it only ever did
50 or something stage miles.
Oh, interesting.
I didn't know or I'd forgotten that.
Well, it had been,
it had been a pretty well used rally car,
but then it
was rebuilt for the,
for the event.
But it was put away for a very long time.
Neil and I together found it in classifies.
We bought it.
He,
we decided to,
I decided to invest in it a bit and
he's been,
he's had all kinds of things,
new pedal box,
new,
new quick shift gear change,
electronic overhauls,
new exhaust system,
which we're,
I think we're going to hear.
And,
and he sent me these clips anyway,
and I'm going to,
the thing that's slightly disturbing
about the clips is that you can hear
Neil's van diesel
going chunter,
chunter, chunter in the,
in the background,
in the,
in the beginning,
and then it all gives way to that.
Okay.
To the,
to the car.
Let me just turn it up a bit here.
Right.
I think that's about as good as we can do.
Anyway,
I'm pleased with it.
I'm pleased with what they've done.
Hang on.
Don't go away.
You've done the torch on this, hasn't it?
There's a bit of a,
do you hear the bar?
Oh, I think it comes with the van.
Yeah.
That's,
I think that sounds great.
Yeah.
Oh, turn it off.
Yeah.
I think it's going to be good.
I mean,
they say that
this Billy business is called rally prep.
They've built all kinds of rally cars for
even,
they did some GT 86 works,
rally car,
rally cars up for a series,
a few years ago,
very good cars.
I might.
You've been in one?
Yeah.
Well, there was a rally cross.
Maybe I'll try to rally car on a rally cross track.
Right.
But it was a,
but it was a,
it was on a Toyota event for sure.
Yeah.
It was an official Toyota event.
I think that's a rally prep car.
That's really interesting.
That's really interesting.
Was it good?
Yeah.
It was great.
The rally cross track was unusual
because there was a point
where it was very muddy.
So you got really bogged down.
It was like, oh, come on.
And it, and it,
eventually it got itself through that
horrible piece.
But yeah,
Toyota were making quite a big thing of it
because they had some of their old
Supra
Celica rally cars on display at the same,
at the same time.
So I'm going to
find that,
find that feature.
Was there a one make
championship?
Right.
I've got a feeling there might have been it.
Anyway,
the thing is these guys have
a serious history of
building rally cars.
And as Neil himself says,
he's built, you know,
dozens of 205s
of various persuasions.
And he was
impressed by this particular one,
which had all the seam welded and,
you know,
caged already and
interior tweaks.
And what we've done is to,
is to improve everything that needed it,
give it new seats,
give it new belts.
It's even going to have power steering
because you can buy a little power
assistance gizmo that fits
on that steering boss.
Interesting.
You know,
a demountable steering wheel.
And my,
the thing I love the most is,
is,
is a chamois leather
wheel rims,
which I just love the feeling.
Same.
Yeah.
That's what I
had fitted to the
BMW 330 CI.
Oh, great.
Long-term, I've had now Cantara
wheel fitted to that because I just,
I like them so much.
That must be great.
So my story,
2015,
says that it was a customer rally car
developed by Toyota Motorsport
in Europe.
But,
the way of these things is,
sometimes,
somebody else does the work and,
have you got some pigs there?
Yeah, I've got the fully,
you may find an RP sticker on it.
Six pages,
six page,
four page feature on it.
So yeah,
but anyway,
it was,
it was terrific.
It was really terrific.
I think they were
85 grand at the time,
250 horsepower,
1080 kilos.
I mean, how good is that?
Yeah, fabulous.
Especially for something as
chunky as a rally car needs to be.
Yeah,
that's really good.
But it,
no,
they're experts.
interestingly,
in the same shed as my 205
is currently reposing,
is a
very healthy,
early BMW,
M3 owned by
Christopher Harris.
Oh, excellent.
He,
he's campaigned it here and there.
Yeah.
And I think they,
they tend to look after it for him.
And it's,
of course, that's the,
that's a pretty prime engine
and still loved for classic rallying.
Yeah,
that is very cool.
Also the other,
I'll tell you what the other thing
they had there was a,
a fiat,
mirror fiori sport.
Remember them?
The 131.
Yeah.
Twin cam,
donkey and all that.
And Neil Yates,
the boss of rally prep,
tends to get it out and run it
at the Goodwood.
Oh,
what would it be every two,
yeah.
But the first develop on the rally stage
or in revival on the circuit?
I think the festival rally stage,
sorry, I'm dreaming.
Yeah.
And every year he gets a,
he gets an invitation and there it is.
And there's,
I think there is only one,
or at least one around here.
Yeah.
Good for Tabby.
How nice to put it,
I sometimes think that how,
how, you know,
if you had a nice car and a letter lands.
Yeah.
Side by the,
the Duke at the bottom.
Yeah.
We'd love you to bring your car.
Well, it happened to me.
Did it?
Yeah.
In the,
Ford was the,
was the,
um,
the favored mark in 2003.
I know this is an ancient history,
but at the time I had a Model T speedster.
Yeah.
And there were three of us,
me, Peter Stevens
and another bloke
who I've never been able to find again.
Right.
But basically the,
there were all of us,
the Ford brothers,
the three of us,
we ran these cars
right through the weekend.
Gosh.
And all these fellas turned up from,
including members of the Ford family took,
turned up and inspected our motors.
And Edzel Ford,
who I wouldn't say was the,
um,
the most car-minded of the Ford family,
looked at my car and said,
that's never a Model T.
And of course,
it was a Model T.
Of course.
Of course.
But it'd been hot-rodded like the rest.
Yeah.
But we had a good time.
And, uh,
no,
I never forget that car
for the three-inch exhaust pipe in the way.
It was, uh,
the noisiest thing I've ever owned.
I mean, that's really cool.
But I did get the letter saying,
you know,
if you want to bring your car.
Have you still,
have you still got it?
The letter?
Yeah.
I don't know.
It's probably in the,
I mean,
I never chuck anything away,
so it must be around somewhere.
So it must be around somewhere.
Yeah.
Uh,
hmm.
Let's take something from your column
of a couple of weeks ago.
You're using Waze,
which is a,
for the uninitiated,
it's a satellite navigation app.
Yeah.
Uh,
doesn't make a huge amount of difference
to your journey time,
you think.
Well.
What kind of motorway speed you?
Well,
what I,
this was in an EV,
the MG4,
400 mile or two,
200 mile journeys.
And my technique is,
is,
is to drive to,
to the speed that Waze dictates almost.
So you set out on a,
the car I was in,
MG4 had a 260 mile range.
I was contemplating a 200 mile journey.
So there's a 60 mile margin as you set off.
And I just drive at the speed that maintains
a 60 mile margin because you know,
you know,
you know that you'll feel all right when you get,
you know,
you'll,
you'll safely arrive as a,
whereas if you go a bit quick,
you might start eating into your,
your buffer.
And then you suddenly encounter a headwind or two,
or some,
you know,
you need to make a diversion and it all goes wrong.
And that's my,
that's my technique and,
and the,
you are affected a lot by winds.
You know,
if your headwinds make life hard as we found,
do you remember that trip?
We went to M Sport in a,
I talk about that trip often.
Yeah.
Well,
only because people,
when people ask me what I think of the Alpine A290
or the,
or even the five in fact,
you know,
can I go well?
Yeah.
Well,
I mean,
we found that we went to Cockermouth and back,
didn't we,
to see Malcolm Wilson
and long trip.
And we found that the car range was really safe
at about 140 miles.
Yeah.
Well,
it was one of those days when there was a storm with a name,
wasn't it?
It was one of those times.
And we were into a bit of a battering headwind
and rain and everything,
weren't we?
So it was,
I forget,
did we stop three times on the way back?
And then you,
and then you had to charge at mine before
going back home from.
There was a,
it was quite,
good to be in the car.
It was a decent little car,
but it just needed more range.
We'd recorded a podcast to it.
That was it.
Yeah.
And people,
so people write to say,
actually they,
some people wrote to say,
I couldn't tell you were in a car until you told me.
And I,
or I heard the indicator going a few minutes in,
there was a,
because I was a bit worried a bit like you,
but the audio quality wouldn't be up to it.
And some people were going,
no,
absolutely fine.
Yeah.
It's not funny that,
because we were using those,
those lapel mics,
weren't we?
You know,
the little ones that talk to your telephone,
or two mics that talk to one telephone.
Yeah.
Whereas right now,
we're using what we usually use,
which are a couple of microphones
that sort of size of a coffee machine.
Yeah.
I think at one point in time,
when they were bought,
they were probably very high quality,
mate.
I'm not sure they're,
I'm not sure they're the thing anymore.
Well, I don't know.
I don't know.
They seem,
they seem fine.
They seem fine.
I saw some,
I don't know,
magazine newspaper feature the other day
about the top podcast microphones,
and these,
these were not mentioned as the pinnacle,
the pinnacle.
They were sort of somewhere mentioned in a mid,
you know,
they're a kind of okay.
Yeah.
It's like,
I thought I was talking into the best thing available.
I wonder what the best thing,
did you discover what the best thing available was?
but I can't remember what it was.
It doesn't matter, does it?
It doesn't matter.
This seems fine to me, mate.
This seems okay to me.
Yeah.
Well, I think that.
You know what I saw the other day?
Go on.
That I don't think you see many of any more,
all of a sudden already,
new Mark 1 or Mark 2,
new Volkswagen Beetles,
97 onwards,
or the second gen Beetle
from whenever that was,
2000 something.
That's interesting.
Yeah.
I just,
just all of a sudden,
I saw one in the co-op car park,
and I thought,
I've seen one of those for a while.
Probably a,
probably a first gen rather than the second gen,
because maybe I did see a second gen today,
actually, thinking about it.
Right.
But I suddenly see not very many of them,
I think.
Yeah.
I remember it as being perfectly okay,
little car,
sort of alternative to the Golf,
wasn't it?
And with a vase in the middle of the dashboard,
but slightly odd seating position.
If you look at people side on,
it looks like you're sitting in the back seat.
It does.
It does look like that.
Yeah, it does.
But I wonder what they cost,
because, you know,
do you think people see them as a classic of some kind?
Well, I wonder.
Or just a cheap way into a Golf.
Yeah, I wonder.
But I,
well,
when I saw a video of an R32 racing one,
which I thought,
that's pretty cool,
because they sounded great,
because they fitted the VR6 to it.
But also,
I thought the second gen one,
which I wonder,
is actually the first Beetle
that was officially called Beetle.
Because previously,
it was a Volkswagen Type 1, right?
And then when the new Beetle arrived in 1996, 1997,
whenever it was,
well, whenever it was,
it was called new Beetle.
So I think the second
new Beetle,
maybe the first,
the first one called Volkswagen Beetle,
officially.
I might be wrong about that.
Yeah, well,
the Yanks coined Beetle, didn't they?
For the original.
And do you remember all those amazing ads
that ran to,
particularly in America,
to emphasize the ugliness
and all that kind of thing.
But the one I remember best
was just this set of tracks through the snow.
And it said,
how does the snow power driver get to work?
Oh, yeah.
They have some sensational ads.
They had some really sensational ads.
But it must be
dozens of them.
But I think officially,
I'm sure you're right,
that the first Beetle
was the second car of that set.
Yeah, it was the 2011
to 2019 model,
which was called Volkswagen Beetle.
But I'd like a late
one of those,
maybe a Cabriolet.
Yeah.
And with the sort of
chromed wheels,
I think would be a really nice way
to mooch around in.
Yeah.
I did a good by feature on them
when they went out of production.
Oh, did you?
And they were good fun.
And they just morphed into
a very easygoing,
quite good looking.
I don't know.
I just have a soft spot for them.
Yeah.
But I just,
suddenly I just think,
Blimey, I can't remember
the last time I saw one of those.
No.
No, it would be
like,
neither can I.
Neither can I, I must say.
They were,
for a while they were in,
I mean,
forever.
I guess they were in slightly,
original, shall we say, colours,
weren't they?
That's interesting.
Yeah, that's also,
you don't see many,
because like 80% of new cars
are white to black
on the grayscale somewhere,
aren't they?
Yeah.
But actually, it's not really
a beatly
thing.
Actually, there's a nice thing
about the new upcoming Twingo,
is I think,
actually,
I think there were,
there were going to be five colours,
of which there were green,
white,
red,
yellow.
Can't remember what the other one
was.
And then,
Lorenz van den Akker,
the
Renault chief designer,
was surprised to find
that somebody had added
metallic grey
and another colour to the,
to the thing he's like,
well,
hang on a minute,
I didn't think we were doing,
and obviously somebody in the,
somebody in the department
somewhere has gone,
yeah.
We've got,
we've got to give a grey one
for the fleets or something like
that.
We better do it to his enormous
surprise,
surprise later on.
They didn't tell him,
and then I think maybe they
didn't tell him on purpose.
But yeah,
he was then very surprised to find
that there's often several colours.
Because you're a relatively
determined bloke, isn't he?
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
Let's talk,
I've only got probably
got time for one more
subject.
You wanted to talk to me about
curving wheels.
Oh, God.
Well,
have you done it?
No.
Oh, good.
No,
but I spend a large,
you know,
I try not to worry much about
anything,
as we know,
but as I think I've explained
to you,
but one of the things that does
worry me constantly is,
is that,
is the damage that you can so
effortlessly do to,
it's the absolute easiest way to
damage your car,
the sort of car value out of
your car by mangling the wheels.
And it's just easy to do
because of the country roads
and the buttocks
and particularly the curbs.
And I,
you know,
if we are going to have,
cover our cars in radar
and have an eight ass this
and eight ass that,
why can't we just have something
that looks at the curbs
and tells me how close I am?
If,
you know,
even something that worked like
the front and rear parking
sensors,
because I find that I can
cope with my life quite well
with our parking service
sensors,
but I really would love to,
I tend to like to sit low in
cars, which means you can't,
your,
your visibility close by,
close to the car is pretty,
yeah, so,
well,
I just like something that says,
oh, look out.
But also,
mate,
why have we,
why are we in a stage where
this is acceptable?
Do you know what I mean?
Because now actually,
you know,
my mobile phone has got a case
on it,
and it's also got a protective
glass screen on it,
because these things have been
designed,
that they will break if you
drop them.
Of course, they get dropped.
I mean,
why,
why do we accept that these
things,
that these very,
very expensive things,
if you just lose grip on them,
you will damage them.
And the same with wheels.
Why have we got to a stage
where it's okay to go,
here's your brand new thing
that you've just spent,
I don't know,
80,000 pounds for,
by the way,
you could do 3,000 pounds
worth of damage if you just
make a one-second error of
judgment in...
And it's just a mistake.
No,
at 0.2 miles an hour.
Oh, dear.
How's that,
how have we got to this day?
Why is this,
why do we think that's all right?
I don't know.
I tell you what though,
the Ford Capri that I was in
until recently,
had,
it was odd in several,
several ways,
it had differently sized
tyres from to rear.
But just slightly different.
The rear tyres were a bit wider.
Don't know why,
but I guess it was handling.
But the front ones were,
they were continental.
They had this collar,
which,
a rubber collar
that just protruded
quite a long way
beyond the,
the alloy wheels,
so that you could
literally run it into a curb
and have some hope
of not
launching the wheel.
And strikes me as as it should be.
But what was weird was that
they were on the fronts,
but not the rears.
Oh really?
It's unusual.
But I photographed them
and bunged them
in the magazine the other day,
but,
and it,
so the difficulty,
the problem was recognised,
but the solution wasn't complete.
That's what annoyed me.
I just,
that's,
I mean,
I don't do it very often.
I have very occasionally,
I try to be careful
because I know it's annoying
for whoever the car belongs to.
But,
my own car's
pretty,
pretty much impossible to curb my,
if I've curbed the defender,
something's gone very wrong.
Well, this is where the defender
is such a joy, isn't it?
You know,
somebody forces you off the road
on your country road
near your gas.
Oh, it's quite,
yeah, I mean, it's narrow anyway.
And then,
which gives you more options.
yeah,
I wonder if,
and I do wonder a slightly,
that's one of the
rises in popularity
of the SUV in general.
I'm sure.
Because they do tend to have
a little bit more sidewall.
Yeah.
They do tend to sit higher
with more visibility.
And people are just like,
well,
if I get squeezed on that road,
I can move on a country road.
I can move to verge a bit.
That is,
that is very much the answer.
Yeah, I think.
Anyway,
as I say,
if we're going to have,
cars have to be bristling
with radar this and that,
let's have one that saves us
a few quid.
Yeah.
Like not curbing the wheels.
I'll just,
I don't know, just,
it's a pet peeve of mine.
A bit like really low supercars,
the nose lift on and blah, blah, blah.
Oh, yeah.
Well, I mean,
I get it,
but if you didn't insist
on making 1,500 kilos,
a downforce,
150 miles an hour,
I mean, just like,
yeah,
because I'm going to scrape the nose.
It's going to be carbon fiber.
It's going to be foreground
for that.
But you put a nose lift on.
So now it's my fault
if I don't, if I scrape it,
whereas if it was just low,
it wouldn't be my lookout.
And presumably the nose lift
is,
you know,
a couple of grams worth of paraphernalia
and some weight.
Yeah.
And then,
I mean,
some of them are really quick,
aren't they?
Like a Ford GT or whatever,
they were really very fast,
but some of them are a bit slow.
They don't work above
certain speeds.
And then,
maybe it makes you feel important
to have to lift the nose in your,
maybe.
Yeah, maybe.
That's a,
that's a,
maybe it's a reverse prestige item.
Yeah.
Not for you.
It's not for me.
It's not for me.
Oh,
we're pretty much at the end of the pod,
I think, really.
We might have time to mention the,
Cherry Tigo 4.
Oh, come on.
Or the fact,
from my column the other week,
that maybe analog is the,
analog dials,
rather than screens
are a new mark of quality.
Really?
That's what you're thinking.
Yeah, it was one of my theories,
pet theory,
because everything's got a screen now.
I mean,
for example,
the Cherry Tigo 4,
which is a B segment,
don't switch off,
a B segment crossover,
series hybrid,
not plug-in.
Yeah.
1.5-litre engine,
CVT,
200 horsepower,
under 20 grand starting price.
Wow.
Fields really nice inside,
a car that if I was in charge
of several different European car manufacturers,
I would absolutely see
and think to myself,
oh dear.
Yes.
Because how do you,
how do you compete,
how do you compete with that?
But also it's got a screen,
very high resolution,
very nice,
very pleasant.
Above a certain resolution of screen,
it's also got an array of buttons.
It's got all,
it's got the right buttons
it should have.
Yeah.
Doesn't put everything on a touch screen.
It's got
four window buttons.
It's got
separate
mirror switches.
On the
stalks,
it's got
wiper adjustment.
And it's got,
yeah,
it's got volume on the dash
and on the steering wheel.
Yeah.
Oh, good.
Yeah.
So,
you know,
there's lots of,
because stuff,
but also if
you can get a screen
that is high enough
resolution in that,
where is the difference
in
perceived quality
between
a 19,000 pound
cherry
and 120,000 pound
whatever.
Yeah.
You know,
they've both got screens
above a certain resolution.
They look as good
as each other.
So what's the,
what's the difference?
Where's the tail?
And I wonder if the,
to start going for a mark
of quality,
perceived quality,
you go, well,
my car's got real needles
and dials because I could
afford it.
Yeah.
Those,
there's always been
a,
a sort of cash,
a prestige attached
to dials,
hadn't they?
Remember,
I mean, the really olden days
before you were born,
mate, people used to,
used to
add a pressure gauge
and a meter,
you know,
on a bracket,
a smith thing,
you know,
because it made the,
it just made you a,
made you a more
serious driver.
And I can remember
when the Lotus Cortino,
sorry,
the,
the first Cortino 1600E
came out with,
with four gauges
set into the top
of the dashboard.
And we,
we thought that was marvelous.
but nobody gives
a monkey's about to screen.
No.
No.
It doesn't,
it doesn't,
and funny enough,
I've got an electric mini outside,
and there's a,
that you can change that,
as you know,
that you can change the
dashboard
in about five different ways
with a switch.
And the one that I find
myself on is the one with the,
the screen that looks like
a bunch of analog gauges.
Oh, really?
But that's,
that's,
that's gimerism,
I'm afraid.
No,
the analog gauge is really,
the,
the rotary analog gauge
is good because
at once,
it tells you
the limits of
the thing.
So it says,
for example,
it does you from no pressure
to high pressure,
or from hot to cold,
or from no Mars now,
to whatever.
The needle tells you exactly
what point you are
during that cycle.
And also at a glance,
you can see whether the needle,
which way the needle is moving
and how quickly it's moving,
which tells you
where you are on that scale
and the rate of change.
And you can see all of that
instantly,
just like that.
Whereas if you just look at
two numbers that say
97 degrees
for your,
for your water temperature,
you don't know whether that's
towards the top,
towards the bottom.
You don't know which direction
the needle is moving in,
if at all.
Whereas actually,
if you were sitting in traffic
and you watched the needle
creep up slightly,
I mean, cars don't overheat
these days, do they?
Really?
But do you know what I mean?
You, you,
the rotary gauge
is a fantastic
engineering example
of how to get you
all the information you want
at a glance.
Yes.
Yeah, that's very true.
I hadn't really
put that together,
but you're quite right.
Yeah.
And if you have,
if it's backed by
reno orange sectors
and red sectors
and things like that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Then you get a much better idea.
But also, yeah,
but my, yeah,
I think the point in my column
is because that new Bugatti
tourbillon is going to have
Swiss watch maker
made inwards
to its instrument cluster.
And the Ferrari Luce,
even though it does have
a screen for the instruments,
they're placed a long way back
behind like three sheets of glass
and the needle is a real needle.
Yeah.
Which will move around.
Yeah.
So it's trying to give the impression
of an analog thing.
Yeah.
And analog things are more expensive
than digital things.
Yes, yeah.
And they do,
they do give a
better opportunity
to display quality,
don't they?
Yeah, they do, I think.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because above a certain...
Because the bezels can be nice
or you can have a little
stainless steel screws around them
or you know,
all that stuff.
Yeah.
And the screen,
even a good screen,
just still looks like a screen.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Very true.
Yeah.
That brings us to the end
of this week's pod.
Steve and I will be back
this time next week
and actually we'll have
we'll have recorded it
only a few days before
it going out actually.
So there'll be some current
stuff to talk about.
Good.
Thanks to our sponsor,
Anderson,
Anderson-EV.com,
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What else is there, Steve?
Is that it?
No, I think that's it, mate.
We've,
the weather's nice outside.
Yeah.
Oh, and there are some
some weekend podcasts
as well.
Yes, of course.
Don't forget those.
You can join us at
AutoCard.co.uk.
The magazine shop.com
is the place to go
for the AutoCard archive.
Just search AutoCard.
You'll find us
on all the socials
because that is
the modern media way, mate.
We have
1.4 million followers
slash subscribers across
not including
traditional magazine.
That's a hell of a figure.
Yeah.
But not including
the magazine itself.
Yeah.
You know,
aside from,
and in fact,
not including the AutoCard
website either.
That is on
things hosted
by other people
other than us.
Yeah.
Amazing.
Join us in all those places.
Cheers, mate.
See you soon.
See you next time.
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About this episode
The hosts kick off with life-on-the-road talk—fuel prices, EV charging sponsor updates, and a practical approach to range using Waze in an MG4. They then dive into data and durability, citing an MOT analysis that highlights huge differences in corrosion failure rates across models. Kit-car culture gets a spotlight with Tim Dutton’s return and the Phaeton 5. Alpina’s BMW-era relaunch is debated too, including whether it risks becoming “just a trim level.” The second half shifts to a rebuilt 205 GTI rally car, wheel-curbing pet peeves, and why analog-style dials still feel premium.
n this week's episode of the Autocar podcast, My Week In Cars, Steve Cropley and Matt Prior talk about the new Audi A2, innate optimism, driving for fun, and the Morris Marina with a six-cylinder engine.
There's more too, including your letters, and details of a special offer which gives you SIX issues of Autocar for just £6 if you click here.
